January 23, 2020–May 31, 2021 at The Valentine

Voices from Richmond’s Hidden Epidemic

HIV / AIDS In Richmond

Richmond has one of the highest rates of HIV/AIDS in the country, and this is a disease that disproportionately affects people of color. The epidemic has received little attention, even though the group reporting the highest rates of new infection is the 25-34 year-old group. Most people assume that HIV/AIDS is a disease that mainly affects gay white men, that it is thing of the past, and that it is easy to treat.  

The exhibition Voices from Richmond’s Hidden Epidemic attempts to offer a more accurate, and nuanced, story through oral history text panels and photographic portraits of those affected by the epidemic—AIDS survivors, family members of those who did not survive, activists, and health care workers on the front lines.

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Portraits by Michael Simon. Exhibition Photography by Steven Casanova.

Exhibition Details

01

Interviews

We interviewed 30 people, including public health officials, medical providers, activists, those who have lost loved ones to AIDS, and those living with HIV. One of our most memorable experiences was recording a group conversation among seven women and one man who have been living with HIV.  It is our hope that their stories—of loss and comradeship, pride and frustration, conflict and transcendence, and hard choices about the things that matter most—will expand the ways we think about HIV.

02

Portraits

Participants in the project came from all walks of life, with a wide range of interests, cultural and racial backgrounds, ages and sexual orientations and genders. Photographer Michael Simon framed all of the participants similarly, so that no single one is larger or more distant than the next. The tightly focused black-and-white images minimize the differences in clothing and dress between the participants. The result: a series of portraits that invite viewers to meet the gaze of the portrait subjects.

The main purpose of portrait photography is to capture the essence of the subject(s). These portraits serve as legacy photographs for multiple generations to come. These beautiful portraits are a way of changing the world’s perception of people living with HIV.

What interested you about the project initially?

I was born in 1976 and grew up in Richmond during the early days of the AIDS crisis. Looking back I feel like I only knew the story via the big cities such as NYC and SF. Of course it was all around us, everywhere. I wanted to learn about Richmond’s story with the AIDS crisis. It felt like a special window into the people who lived and continue to live the story.

What surprised you during the process of taking the portraits?

Even after years of making portraits of people that I have just met, I am still surprised when people open up to me, and express deep emotions. I feel such a sense of gratitude when someone is being so real with me, and sharing their life with me. It’s one of the things I love most about being a photographer. 

04

Catalog

Public health officials, medical providers, activists, those who have lost loved ones to AIDS, and those living with HIV have shared stories with us that are by turns moving, comic, thought-provoking, and profound. It is our hope that their stories—of loss and comradeship, pride and frustration, conflict and transcendence, and hard choices about the things that matter most—will change the ways we think about HIV.

Download the full catalogue here.

Exhibition Photography by Steven Casanova

Close-Ups of Cascading Books by Meg Hughes

05

Exhibition

Voices from Richmond’s Hidden Epidemic  is an attempt to shift conversations around the epidemic  from statistics to the lived experiences of people affected by HIV. Through excerpts of oral histories by Laura Browder and Patricia Herrera, accompanied with photographic portraits by Michael Simon, we seek to tell the story of HIV today from multiple perspectives. A highlight of the exhibition is a series of cascading books—essentially a paper version of the AIDS quilt—created by women in an HIV support group at St. Paul’s Baptist Church, in collaboration with our students at the University of Richmond.

Early Days

This section paints a vivid picture of the epidemic’s onset in the 1980s and the decimation of the gay community in major cities. Told from the perspectives of both those who became HIV-positive in the 1980s and 1990s, like Rodney Lofton and Erik King, or those who were witnesses and allies, like Guy Kinman and Bill Harrison, these stories offer an immersion into the terrifying early days of the epidemic, when there were no treatments at all and when a diagnosis of HIV was almost always a death sentence.

Artists’ Response to the Crisis

This section focuses on “Artists for Life,” the benefit organized in 1988 by Chris Burnside, Rob Gabriel, and Lisa Cumbey. A milestone in the history of HIV in Richmond, this gala brought massive attention and funding to a community in need—even as it was surrounded by protesters screaming “death to fags” at attendees as they walked into the venue.

HIV’s Effect on Relationships

From the heart-rending stories told by Kendra Weindling, whose early job it was to find homes for children about to be orphaned by their mothers’ death from AIDS, to the complex ways Yolanda Alexander’s HIV diagnosis affected her relationships with her children, this section explores the impact of HIV on families. Many exhibition participants contracted HIV from a romantic partner, and many now struggle with how—or even whether—to navigate intimate relationships.

The Role of the Church in Coming to Terms with HIV

Denominations that regard homosexuality and pre- or extra-marital sex as a sin have struggled to come to terms with the HIV epidemic. Faron Niles talks about how his deep involvement in a Pentecostal church kept him in the closet for years—and how he is still not accepted by his family as a gay man. Lindsay Bryant, a committed member of St. Paul’s Baptist church, talks about herself as a “faith warrior” fighting HIV in the black community while supporting those who are positive. She has become a national leader in the black church for her efforts and reflects, “If you're not infected, you're affected. We want to share that burden with everybody. When you do that, that makes people want to do things to protect themselves and their partners and their community.”

Secrecy / Openness

An HIV diagnosis, if shared, can lead to a patient’s loss of a job—or even a family. Many HIV-positive people report that some relationships fall apart when they share their diagnosis—while others are strengthened.

HIV as an Expression of Inequality

Characterizations of HIV have changed since the early days, when the public face of the epidemic was a gay, white, often middle-class man. Today, communities of color and the poor  are disproportionately affected. In this section, nurse Bob Higginson powerfully discusses the many obstacles that HIV-positive people face—including homelessness, hunger and concern for personal safety. Richmond, although it no longer has the nation’s 17th highest new HIV infection rate, is still in the top 20. In this section, a number of public health workers offer different hypotheses for why this is so—ranging from the city’s concentration of poverty, to the lack of meaningful sex education in public schools, to its proximity to cities like Baltimore and Washington, D.C., which also have high infection rates.

Present + Future of HIV/AIDS

In this section, participants who are engaged with the struggle against HIV paint a picture of the epidemic today—and talk about what they see as the future of the illness. As Zakia McKensey, whose Nationz Foundation serves the transgender community, “If your basic needs aren't met, then your medical care is secondary. If I know I'm going to get a bag of food, then I can open up.”